Replies

1. 
   Andrew | Oct 30, 2002 11:13pm | #1

   It looks like instructions on how to mount the blade so that it will run true. the first no says not to mount the blade on a saw with a bent arbor, the second no says not to use stiffeners of different diameters or varying thickness. i think the 3rd no is refering to using washers that vary in thickness. all in all it seems pretty stupid. after all if you don't already know how to install a tablesaw blade properly you shouldn't be using a tablesaw.

1. 
   forestgirl | Oct 30, 2002 11:26pm | #3

   Ahhhh, it's becoming clearer.  Actually, I had figured out the arbor thing.  What's #4?  "Don't make a kerf-wide dado with the blade tilted" or somethin' like that?

   I like to see pretty detailed instructions with tools, but this mystery sheet's pretty odd to me.  On the reverse side of what I pic'd was a diagram indicating not to off-set your fence at the back end -- that was easy to figure, and there's a diagram indicating what direction to turn a cup-stone if you're sharpening, and to use a coolant (I guess).

   Incomplete instructions came to the forefront with my Jet jointer -- nothing in there at all about how to change the depth-of-cut setting.  Dumb.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

2. 
   billballeza | Oct 30, 2002 11:23pm | #2

   I've studied your warning sheet very carefully and after observing:

   "OK" "OK" "OK" "OK" and "NO" "NO" "NO" "NO"

   I have concluded the following:

   This is the precise dialogue from my first date.

1. 
   forestgirl | Oct 30, 2002 11:28pm | #4

   Too funny!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

3. 
   RSRose | Oct 30, 2002 11:34pm | #5

   Jamie,

   As andrew said it warns against a bent arbor, against stiffeners that are different thicknesses or diameters, against washers that are not uniform thickness and against mounting the blade so that it is free to wobble.

   I suppose that legal departments now make companies pack information with their products that appears frivolous to anyone who knows how to use the product. In order to defend against injury lawsuits.

   I bought a garden hose once that had a warning label on it that said - and I kid you not -

   "Instructions - Warning - Do not aim stream of water from hose into live electrical outlet!"

   R

1. 
   Jim42 | Nov 06, 2002 08:02am | #28

   Rich,

   Well, OF COURSE you don't aim the stream of water from a hose into a live outlet. You shut the breaker off and THEN shoot the water into the outlet!

   Jim

1. 
   RSRose | Nov 06, 2002 10:58am | #30

   Jim,

   When I was in high school, we all had to take "shop." Wood shop, metal shop, ANY shop.

   We had PRINT SHOP which was a popular course. The printing room was on the 6th floor of an inner city school. There were no screens on windows of the school. Of course no air conditioning. In the spring all the windows were always open. Those windows were a good 8 feet tall.

   The type cabinets stood against one window wall. A big sign stood above the cabinets: "DO NOT THROW TYPE OUT WINDOWS" (yeah, right. If it hadn't occured to any adolescent boy before seeing the sign . . .)

   Side Bar. An Em Quad is a cube of lead on which the letter "M" sits. It's called a Quad because it is as tall as it is wide. It varies in size by the "point" size of the type. A 72 Point Em Quad is just about 1 cubic inch of lead. Do you know how far a kid with a good arm can throw a 72 point Em Quad from an open 6th floor window of a school building? We're talking HEFT!

   Rich

4. 
   charlesm | Oct 31, 2002 12:01am | #6

   Jamie,

   The insert is printed in Italy and is intended to be universal to avoid printing the warnings in 17 different languages. Although the bore of the blade would be different in Europe, the same blade is sold all over the world. The first pane does indicate that the arbor must be true, the second, third and fourth are not to use fixing washers or stabilizers that are of different thicknesses or diameters and that the washers/stabilizers must be flat. Sorry for any confusion or insult to anyone's intelligence.

   Cahrles M

   Freud, Inc.

1. 
   RSRose | Oct 31, 2002 12:22am | #7

   Charles,

   Having been involved in various aspects of graphic design, I am sure that the artists who put that graphic together worked long and hard to find "universal" symbols to convey the messages. Actually, it's very good.

   R

2. 
   DennisS | Oct 31, 2002 09:28am | #10

   Charles -

   I, like everyone here, really appreciate you taking the time to be involved in the discussion. It speaks volumes for Freud's commitment to customer support.

   None the less, I'm of the school that as many words will suffice for non-descript pictures. I abhor the windoze operating system for all its icons, I don't like little stick figures telling me when I can cross the street, and prefer a simple red "brake" light on the dash when I start my car. If icons were such a meaningful way of communicating, why did Phoenician cuniform writing fall out of favor.

   I'm all for plain English. Or Spanish ... or French... or whatever. I'll *hire* a translator if I need to.

   Dennis in Bellevue WA

   [email protected]

1. 
   charlesm | Oct 31, 2002 03:48pm | #15

   I agree with your sentiment towards icons but have resigned myself to the fact that they will become more prolific in the coming years. I think this is, in part, due to the backlash resulting from multiple languages here in North America. I know of a lot of resentment from English speaking Americans toward having to select between English and Spanish at ATMs and on automated phone systems. Freud products for this continent must have all text at least Bilingual (English and French per Quebec law) and since so many customers are now Hispanic we generally add the Spanish. This can seriously crowd a package and turn a simple instruction manual into a novel. Please don't take this as an excuse not to heed your preference because we are working very hard to accommodate the large group of consumers who, like you, want easy to read instructions that are both concise and comprehensive.

   Charles M

   Freud, Inc.

1. 
   DennisS | Oct 31, 2002 05:21pm | #18

   > ... I think this is, in part, due to the backlash resulting from multiple languages here in North America.

   ........

   Probably. I don't appreciate it either, but when you go to a foreign country, at least in the major cities like Paris, everyone seems to speak English. What really concerns me is braile characters on a drive-up teller's window at the bank. (grin)

   Dennis in Bellevue WA

   [email protected]

1. 
   DonaldCBrown | Oct 31, 2002 05:23pm | #20

   You anti-visually impaired? They need money, too.

2. 
   DennisS | Oct 31, 2002 05:41pm | #24

   Next you'll promote braille on gearshift levers? Braille on speedometers? (grin)

   Of course, half the people in Seattle drive like they're blind anyway so perhaps that would be an improvement.

   Dennis in Bellevue WA

   [email protected]

3. 
   charlesm | Oct 31, 2002 05:28pm | #22

   I haven't been to Paris, but I have been to Barcelona and they didn't speak much English. I'm just happy that I knew how to say Cerveza!

   Charles M

   Freud, Inc.

2. 
   TimSams | Oct 31, 2002 05:22pm | #19

   Charles,

   I prefer pictures over words. Though many tech/owners manuals are easier to read, often they fail to communicate. Certainly pics can have the same problem (thus, this discussion!), but they make more sense to me. And if I don't understand it, I call the company's tech support.

   Tim

1. 
   DonaldCBrown | Oct 31, 2002 05:25pm | #21

   There is, of course, the options of pictures and words for those of us whose phones have been cut off for non-payment of our bill.

3. 
   BG | Oct 31, 2002 02:22pm | #13

   FG,

   Stop pulling our leg...that's a Flordia ballot...:)

5. 
   DonaldCBrown | Oct 31, 2002 12:52am | #8

   A friend, fed up with the proliferation of non-verbal symbols everywhere in our daily life, reached his limit with the warnings on the dashboard of his new pickup. He sent the attached suggestions to the Ford Motor Company.

   
1. 
   forestgirl | Oct 31, 2002 05:13am | #9

   Too funny!  I sent those to my Sweetie, who's engineering at the Umatilla Army nerve gas disposal site these days.  Something to perk up his day.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

2. 
   DennisS | Oct 31, 2002 09:33am | #11

   Absolutely great!

   I drive an '88 Bronco that tells me what's going on in plain English.

   Like I said in the first post - if pictographic communication were so great we'd be drawing little people and boxes to describe our antics in the shop. Imagine trying to write something about coiling bandsaw blades with icons!!

   Dennis in Bellevue WA

   [email protected]

1. 
   ScottWhiting | Oct 31, 2002 03:58pm | #16

   Forest Girl

   Nobody addressed your question on note #4. It is posible the place opposing shims, one between the inner flange and the blade and one between the outer flange and the blade, to in effect make a regular blade in to a wobble dado. It is a very dangerous practice because the blade is not wery well secured to the arbor.Scott

   Scott's Sharpening Service

   Glendale, Az.

1. 
   DonaldCBrown | Oct 31, 2002 05:18pm | #17

   My friend, who thinks people should learn to read and write before operating whirling equipment, offers these modifications to Freud's warnings.

   Edited to correct punctuation.

   Edited 10/31/2002 10:21:39 AM ET by Donald C. Brown

   
1. 
   NormInFujino | Oct 31, 2002 05:38pm | #23

   Uh, thanks, Don. Some of us need all the help we can get.

   ". . .and only the stump or fishy part of him remained."

   Green Gables: A Contemplative Companion to Fujino Township

2. 
   forestgirl | Oct 31, 2002 07:01pm | #25

   Wow, Scott, I definitely would never have figured that one out!  Didn't know there was such a thing.  Thanks.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

6. 
   DennisS | Oct 31, 2002 09:36am | #12

   Jamie -

   Several of the pictures show a dial indicator for assessing such things as arbor runout. You have one, of course (grin)

   The first illustration could be warning about one of two things: arbor runout or arbor bearing wear causing play in the arbor.

   Why they bother to make such warnings is another question - it seems more to do with diagnosing problems with the quality of the finished cut than a safety issue???

   Dennis in Bellevue WA

   [email protected]

1. 
   RickL750 | Oct 31, 2002 02:51pm | #14

    Hey Guys!! I think those little dial indicators are really clocks telling us the acceptable times that we’re allowed to perform those functions. You know like a calling plan from the telephone company.

7. 
   user-324291 | Nov 06, 2002 04:39am | #26

   After trying to decode the instructions that came with my Jet 8" jointer, I came into the house to fix some oatmeal for breakfast.  The instructions on the package said:"  For thinner oatmeal...add more water.  For thicker oatmeal...add more oatmeal"

   You go figure....cheers, mark

1. 
   forestgirl | Nov 06, 2002 06:07am | #27

   My absolute favorite, though I haven't baked them for awhile, is the set of instructions on the back of the Pepperidge Farms turnover packages.  The usual info about preheating the oven, placing the turnovers on a greased baking sheet, place on center rack in oven, close oven door.  DUUUUHHHHH!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

1. 
   ToolDoc | Nov 06, 2002 08:35am | #29

   Jamie: You cook & Bake too, hmmm and here we all thought you were just another woodworker.. Hey that guy of yours better watch out cause someone just might want to latch on to a little Sweetie like you..<G>...

   ok Im going back into Hiding...ToolDoc